More Boys, Men, Being expelled from Bountiful

[tropaka]

I cannot believe that they are still taking orders from Jeffs. Surely this is happening State side as well, where he might have even more sway. The fathers being told to have as little contact with children/toddlers as possible at risk of being deemed adulters is also disturbing:

 

from an opinion piece in the National Post

 

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... -about-it/

 

 

Quote

VANCOUVER — The B.C. government is failing to protect the rights and freedoms of children in the polygamous community of Bountiful, continuing a year’s long pattern of indecision, indifference and, at times, sheer naiveté.

 

Since January, a number of boys have been banished. At least 40 children have been taken away from their fathers and parcelled out to “new†dads after their biological fathers were deemed unworthy and expelled by leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

 

 

One source says there are fewer than 30 men left among the nearly 500 FLDS followers in the southeastern B.C. community.

 

Those followers are taking their orders from their prophet Warren Jeffs, a pedophile jailed in Texas for life plus 20 years for the sexual assault of girls. Among his edicts issued in the past year, Jeffs has said that only 12 to 15 men are worthy to impregnate FLDS women and girls.

 

Jeffs is directing every aspect of children’s lives from his jail cell.

 

Mothers have been ordered to minimize physical contact with children. Fathers — even those who haven’t been expelled — are forbidden from having any physical contact with their children, warned that they will be deemed to be “adulterers†if they even hug a toddler or pat a little one on his or her head.

 

And what has the B.C. government done? Nothing.

 

 

And that is “very disturbing,†said Child and Youth Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond in an interview this week. Following the “egregious behaviour†by the FLDS, she said, what happens next is “a test of the government,†which has “tiptoed around the issue for a long time.â€

 

While it may be a relief to some that taxpayers will not have to spend $1.1-million supporting Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School, which has been all but shuttered, no one should feel good that 250 children, from kindergarten to Grade 10, will now possibly spend their days at home only learning from the bizarre ramblings of a convicted sex offender.

 

What Ms. Turpel-Lafond wants — and what anyone who cares about the welfare and protection of children should support — is more aggressive and more creative action from the government.

 

None of the six fathers told child welfare officials that their children have been stripped from them, that they were concerned about their children’s schooling or that their children may not have enough to eat. None of the boys who have been kicked out of Bountiful have asked for help, either.

 

This banishing of men and boys, rearranging of families and the forced marriages of girls shouldn’t be happening here or anywhere.

 

While laws and regulations can’t cover everything, the B.C. government needs to catch up to the egregious and disturbing reality of Bountiful and do something about it.

 

 

[NjoyingNsanity]

Dear Gods just when you think Jeffs can't think of anything else to fuck-up those poor kids for life he bans innocent physical displays of parental affection. Add lack of physical affection and bonding to physical, emotional or sexual abuse, neglect, poverty, brainwashing, inbreeding, and lack of education and you get a tragedy in the making. Those poor kids they don't stand a chance unless the government steps in.

Edited because autocorrect thinks it knows what I meant to type.

[lovefromgirl]

Who's on charge on the ground up there? Who's enforcing what Jeffs hands down? Curious, as I'm out of the loop re: Bountiful.

[tropaka]

there are two groups at Bountiful, this is from wiki so take it fwiw

The Mormon fundamentalists in Bountiful have divided into two groups: about half are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church), and the other half are members of an FLDS-offshoot based on the teachings of their bishop, Winston Blackmore, who split with the FLDS Church after concluding the president of the church, Warren Jeffs, had exceeded his authority and become too dictatorial. The current FLDS bishop is James Oler.

[edit]

[Arete]

I thought the Bountiful community is run by Winston Blackmore, and he and Jeffs had a falling out years ago.

As to the US side of things, about 2 month ago Jeffs gave an edict from jail-He has essentially chosen a group of 15-20 bootlickers as, pardon the expression, "breeding stock". All other men, including ALL OTHER MARRIED MEN, are not allowed to father children, and a lot of their wives have been reassigned. That is the state of things on this side of the border. A raid a few years ago that rounded up a lot of the young children and put them in mainstream foster care was such a public relations fiasco that most of the children were returned. The original accuser never backed up her statements. That community sorely tests my convictions that children should not be forcibly removed from their parents because of religious beliefs. :(

Cross posted with tropaka, she gave the more accurate picture of Bountiful

[Witsec7]

I thought the Bountiful community is run by Winston Blackmore, and he and Jeffs had a falling out years ago.

As to the US side of things, about 2 month ago Jeffs gave an edict from jail-He has essentially chosen a group of 15-20 bootlickers as, pardon the expression, "breeding stock". All other men, including ALL OTHER MARRIED MEN, are not allowed to father children, and a lot of their wives have been reassigned. That is the state of things on this side of the border. A raid a few years ago that rounded up a lot of the young children and put them in mainstream foster care was such a public relations fiasco that most of the children were returned. The original accuser never backed up her statements. That community sorely tests my convictions that children should not be forcibly removed from their parents because of religious beliefs. :(

Cross posted with tropaka, she gave the more accurate picture of Bountiful

I thought Blackmore was supposed to be in jail for marrying children?

[Arete]

I thought Blackmore was supposed to be in jail for marrying children?

As far as I know only Jeffs has been convicted and imprisoned for marrying children. I'm going to take a quick look and see if there are any charges pending against Blackmore....

[tropaka]

So, same thing - certain men were acceptable fathers....the author of this piece caught on after two or three fathers filed court documents seeking access to their kids after Jeffs' edict took place.

Last year there were hearings as they went after some of the men for polygamy. What came out in testimony and in docs was unsettling. At least one 15 y/o girl was shipped to the US to marry Jeffs. The FLDS members argued that the law against polygamy was unconstitutional - I don't even think a decision's been made on this yet.

[Witsec7]

From the comments on the cited article.

On June 30, 2009, Constable Shelley Livingstone testified in BC Supreme Court that the RCMP have DNA and birth certificate proof that arch polygamist Winston Blackmore (130 children and counting) had impregnated NINE, repeat NINE underage girls. Later, the RCMP stated there was proof that Blackmore and certain Bountiful parents had illegally trafficked underage girls down to the US to fulfill FLDS needs for more concubines for their harems. On 23 November, 2011, Chief Justice Robert Bauman of BC Supreme Court ruled that S.293 CC, proscribing polygamy, was constitutional in that polygamy is an anti-social act, contravening the equality rights of women, impoverishing their children, and setting poorer men against richer men who can afford to collect more "brides," when Nature has not even provided two women for every one man. Yet in spite of the acknowledged lawlessness occurring in Bountiful, our despicable BC government continues to turn a blind eye. When certain government officials refuse to stop the known sexual exploitation and illegal trafficking of underage girls, when they know that young boys are turfed out of Bountiful so that the elders can collect more concubines, are they not even more criminal than the criminals themselves? Can outraged citizens have certain government officials charged for refusing to do their sworn duty to protect children? Because it looks as if that's about the only thing left that will finally force our despicable BC government to act.

[Arete]

Blackmore was arrested in 2009, but the charges were thrown out by a Canadian judge due to how the Crown had chosen its prosecutors. Friggin' A.

crossposted with expdd

[tropaka]

There still trying - this sums up a lot

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/bri ... le4097160/

Polygamous marriages in the religious commune of Bountiful, B.C. are once again under the scrutiny of the RCMP, following two decades of similar investigations that have so far failed to lead to a single conviction.

The Mounties have investigated plural marriages in Bountiful since the early 1990s, but persistent questions about the constitutionality of the law and a successful legal challenge three years ago have meant only two people have ever been charged and no one has been convicted.

The RCMP launched an investigation last year focusing on allegations that dozens of teen brides were spirited across the U.S. border to marry older men, but officers weren’t actively considering charges of polygamy because of an ongoing constitutional reference case examining the law.

That changed this week after the province’s attorney-general – buoyed by a court ruling last November that upheld the law – instructed a special prosecutor to consider polygamy charges.

“There’s a renewed focus on it now,†RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Friday.

“The special prosecutor is in possession of some of our previous findings, and if we uncover further information that shows what we believe to be elements of this offence [of polygamy] we would forward that, as well.â€

Bountiful is an isolated commune of roughly a thousand people located in southeastern British Columbia near the town of Creston, not far from the U.S. border. Bountiful residents are members of a breakaway Mormon sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or FLDS, which holds multiple marriage as an important tenet of the faith.

Despite years of investigation, the only time anyone from Bountiful has faced charges related to multiple marriage was in 2009, when Winston Blackmore and James Oler – who each lead divided factions within the community – were each charged with practising polygamy.

Those charges were thrown out later that year when a judge concluded the government violated the men’s rights when it chose its prosecutors.

That prompted the province to launch a constitutional reference case in B.C. Supreme Court to settle questions about the anti-polygamy law once and for all. After two months of hearings, the court issued a ruling last November that concluded the harms associated with polygamy, from child brides to sexual abuse, outweigh any claims to religious freedom.

Neither side opted to appeal the case to a higher court, and this week attorney-general Shirley Bond announced she wouldn’t be launching additional reference cases at the B.C. Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court of Canada.

She instructed special prosecutor Peter Wilson, who was already considering charges related to allegations of cross-border marriages, to add polygamy to his mandate.

When asked about Ms. Bond’s decision, polygamist leader Winston Blackmore would only say he wasn’t surprised.

“It seems to be going exactly as my lawyers predicted it would go,†Mr. Blackmore wrote in a brief e-mail to The Canadian Press.

Cpl. Moskaluk said the RCMP have visited Bountiful, but he declined to reveal anything else about the investigation. Last year, officers travelled to Texas to examine FLDS records seized during a 2008 raid on the church’s Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado.

Some of those documents were entered into evidence during the B.C. constitutional case, and they outlined dozens of marriages involving teenage girls from Bountiful who were married to American men, and several involving girls from the U.S. who were married to Canadians.

Both Mr. Blackmore and Mr. Oler were implicated in the documents.

In at least one marriage, Mr. Blackmore was listed in the documents as the husband of a child bride. In two others, he was alleged to have taken his own daughters across the border to be wed.

Another marriage involved an American girl allegedly married to Mr. Oler.

At least three girls from Bountiful – two 12-year-olds and a 13-year-old – were taken to the U.S. by their parents and married to leader Warren Jeffs, according to the church records.

Mr. Jeffs is the self-proclaimed leader of the FLDS and is now in prison for sexually assaulting two of his teen brides.

With a file from Dirk Meissner in Victoria

[wendy-sparkles]

As far as I know only Jeffs has been convicted and imprisoned for marrying children. I'm going to take a quick look and see if there are any charges pending against Blackmore....

It looks like at the start of this year he was in trouble for re: his taxes, and forgot one of his wives in court.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/09 ... ack-taxes/

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Canadi ... story.html

I think he was involved in child trafficking, and the marrying of child brides, but it doesn't look like charges have been brought.

What I don't understand with the 'fifteen fathers' is how Jeffs thinks that is sustainable in any way. Aside from undermining the men in his community, my understand is that there are already some quite severe genetic problems due to significant portion of polygamists being descended from the same handful of men, and surely this would only exacerbate it? If not right now, certainly in a few generation?

[mrs]

I am sorry. I just posted about FLDS members leaving the Texas compound.

[Arete]

wendy-sparkles, Jeffs thinks he is literally the voice of God. Genetic mutations are only for us Gentilles to worry about. I read some court transcripts from his case a few years ago. The megalomania and God complex in this one both run deep.

[lovefromgirl]

Thanks, tropaka and AreteJo; I thought Blackmore had split from Jeffs! I saw a documentary on the subject some time ago and was hopeful that at least one of these religious communities could do it without marrying all the girls to old men. [sigh] Giving poly-anything a bad name, these lot.

[mrs]

Thanks, tropaka and AreteJo; I thought Blackmore had split from Jeffs! I saw a documentary on the subject some time ago and was hopeful that at least one of these religious communities could do it without marrying all the girls to old men. [sigh] Giving poly-anything a bad name, these lot.

National Geographic produced a documentary featuring Bountiful and Winston. Here is a link to the documentary, "Inside Polygamy: Life in Bountiful": youtube.com/watch?v=Uf1A8cXoUd4 .

Edited: b/c I can't figure out how to add the you tube video into the post.

[mrs]

Here is another documentary. 16 X 9 - "Inside Polygamy:Polygamy Investigation": youtube.com/watch?v=UixdcBdOjNM .

[Rowan]

wendy-sparkles, Jeffs thinks he is literally the voice of God. Genetic mutations are only for us Gentilles to worry about. I read some court transcripts from his case a few years ago. The megalomania and God complex in this one both run deep.

Since Jeffs almost certainly believes he is "the one mighty and strong," then he wouldn't be concerned with future generations because life on Earth as we know it will not be around much longer.

I'm currently reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" and think it's past time for an update with all of the stuff that has happened since it was written.

[valsa]

National Geographic produced a documentary featuring Bountiful and Winston. Here is a link to the documentary, "Inside Polygamy: Life in Bountiful": youtube.com/watch?v=Uf1A8cXoUd4 .

Edited: b/c I can't figure out how to add the you tube video into the post.

Just copy & paste anything after the "watch?v=" part of the link (in the case above, that would be "Uf1A8cXoUd4") and stick the Youtube tag around it.

Uf1A8cXoUd4

It took me forever to figure out how to do that.

[mrs]

Thank you, Valsa!

[Common]

42:15-43:15 in the Nat Geo video, Striking Duggar similarities count: 4 or 5.